


Hidden In Plain Sight

by sweetcarolanne



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Disguise, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Male Character of Color, Revolution, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 13:11:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9492803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcarolanne/pseuds/sweetcarolanne
Summary: Their love was beautiful, unexpected... and ultimately doomed.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [makiyakinabe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/makiyakinabe/gifts).



> Dear recipient, I hope this is something like what you wanted!
> 
> Many thanks to my beta who wishes to remain anonymous.

The moonlight fell in a delicate stream of brightness across the sleeping face of Kelan’s beloved, creating an almost alien floral pattern over his warm brown skin through the torn curtains. Kelan disliked the eeriness of the effect, so he quietly slipped from the bed to brush the offending materials aside, allowing the moon to shine down unimpeded. Arun was too beautiful a man to be so strangely transfigured by a mere trick of the light.

Kelan sat back down beside Arun, running the fingers of one pale, slender hand through his lover’s dark curls. Arun’s face wore an expression of peaceful gentleness as he slept; it was hard to imagine that face as it had been earlier that evening, contorted in rage against the Emperor he so despised.

“He may not be a grasping miser and a murderous tyrant like his father before him, but he is a young fool, a vain and selfish dandy who parades himself through the capital city like a peacock!” Arun had snarled. “This mere boy, who believes himself to be a gilded god among men, is a worthless spendthrift who splashes gold around like it was water!” 

Arun’s eyes had flashed with an inner fire, and Kelan had stood there mesmerised by the power and the passion in his voice.

“He steals bread from the very mouths of the poor, spending the money that should go towards feeding and clothing our children on silken robes, jewels and decadent all-night parties with whores and catamites. The Emperor Demius is a plague upon our land and our people! He and his cronies must be stamped out before our nation collapses into ruins!”

Despite the pain these words awoke within Kelan, he could not help but be moved by the sentiments, and captivated by the sheer magnificence of Arun. No wonder the revolutionaries had selected him as their leader! The very look of his steadfast stance and the commanding tone of his voice would inspire even the most apathetic members of the populace to take up arms and follow him.

Arun had not calmed down until much later that night, when Kelan’s loving embraces and tender kisses had soothed him enough for this strong man to weep for the common people he so loved. Their lovemaking had been slow and gentle that night, in contrast to the sheer wild lust that their bodies typically craved. And when Arun had fallen asleep at last, Kelan was reluctantly alone with his own thoughts, staring down at the man he had given his heart to completely and contemplating the inevitable bleakness of the future ahead once Arun knew the truth about the one he had taken into his bed and his life so willingly.

Hearing whispers of revolt amongst his people, the young Emperor had hidden behind tattered clothes and a childhood nickname, dyeing his blond hair red and slipping out into the streets. He had not expected to fall in love with the man who was leading the rebels, nor did he realize that he would eventually become so sympathetic to their cause.

The young Emperor Demius bent to place a kiss upon Arun’s brow, and shed a single shimmering tear as the merciless moon continued to bathe the pair in white radiance


End file.
